The actress spent Saturday at the press junket for The Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn, Part 2, and at night, after a quick change into a white cut-out Balenciaga cropped tank and high-waisted trousers, walked the red carpet for her indie film On the Road. Amy Adams, Garrett Hedlund and director Walter Salles were also on hand at Grauman's Chinese theater to debut the film (due out Dec. 21) at the AFI Fest 2012.

It was a heavy load, but you'd never know it from talking to Stewart, who will premiere Part 2 in just a week. She walked the press line calm, collected and friendly. Not even a stray piece of double-sided tape stuck to her top fazed her when a publicist stepped in to remove it halfway down the red carpet.

"Somebody wore this before me?" she joked, in mock horror.

Her good mood continued at the Audi SkyLounge after-party at the Roosevelt Hotel, where she arrived - more casual now, in jeans, flats and a black leather bomber jacket - with Robert Pattinson. Both sported wide smiles, and the pair hung out with friends until well after midnight.

On the red carpet, Stewart shared some insight about what drew her to the film adaptation of the infamous Jack Kerouac tale. The actress first read the novel at 15, and said the lessons it held stayed with her.

"I had the exact same feeling that I had when I was 15 that I did when I was like, 20," she said. "At that age you look up and realize that you have anything that you could ever possibly imagine very much within reach. And I still feel that way."

On the Road is a big departure for Stewart, whose character, Marylou, daringly explores sexuality, drug use and heartbreak over the course of a meandering cross-country road trip. Ask if she's leaning toward making more indies vs. big-budget blockbusters, and she'll tell you that the level of risk feels the same regardless.

"If you're working for reasons that drive me," she began, and then continued, "It's a shame, it's like, absolutely heartbreaking when you find yourself on a movie set that you don't find a commonality with the director and the cast and all of that. It doesn't really matter what scale movie it is."

Her favorite road trip? "The one that I took right before I did On the Road, probably," she said. "We had to cram it into three days. I went to many diners."